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March 24, 1964 H. c. AcToN WALL wARDRoBE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 21, 1961 www #fray/VIK March 24, 1964 H. c. AcToN 3,126,238

WALL WARDROBE a Filed July 21, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 24, 1964 H. c. AcToN 3,126,238

WALL wARDRoBE Filed July 21, 1961 s sheets-'sheet s G vIAWENTOR.

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Mw DM' United States Patent O 3,126,238 WALL WARDROBE Hugh C. Acton, 588 Brookside Drive, Birmingham, Mich. Filed July 21, 1961, Ser. No. 125,799 8 Claims. (Cl. S12-245) This invention relates to a wall hung Wardrobe and particularly to a wall hung Wardrobe composed essentially' of a front cover panel and a pair of vertically spaced rack elements attached to the rear face of the cover panel. These racks serve as the cantilever support means for mounting the wardrobe on a wall or similar supporting structure in addition to providing hidden storage for hats, coats, luggage and the like.

Itis a primary object of this invention to provide a wall hung rwardrobe composed of a minimum number of elements that is light in weight, readily mounted on a wall or supporting structure by the simplest of means, is novel and attractive in appearance and a structure wherein the luggage and clothes rack components of the wardrobe serve a structural function as well as a service function.

It is `another object of this invention lto provide a wall h-ung ywardrobe composed essentially of a decorative yfront panel and a pair of vertically spaced rack structures projecting from the rear side of the panel wherein the rack structures `are formed for ready attachment both tothe front panel and to the wall or supporting structure on which the wardrobe is to be mounted.

It is still another object of one form of this invention to provide a wall hung wardrobe comprising essentially a decorative front cover panel, panel edge frames and a pair of vertically spaced rack elements wherein the cover panel is formed of a flexible resilient material that is adapted to be deformed and stressed during assembly of -the several Wardrobe components such that the stressing of the cover panel maintains the several components in their assembled positions and eliminates the need for any other means for interconnecting the several Wardrobe components.

It is still a further object of another form of this invention to provide a wall hung wardrobe comprising a front cover panel and a pair of vertically spaced rack structures projecting from lthe rear `face of the cover panel wherein the rack structures are adapted to be detachably connected to a pair of horizontally spaced vertically extending support bars.

It is still another object of still another form of this invention to provide a wall hung wardrobe comprising a cover panel and a pair of vertically spaced rack structures projecting from the rear side of the cover panel with said rack structures being adapted to be mounted on -the existing structural members of room wall panels or the like.

-Other objects and advantages of this invention will be readily apparent from a reading of the following description and a consideration of the related drawings :wherein:

FIG. l is a front elevational view of a preferred form of this invention; portions of the Wardrobe being broken `away for the sake of space saving clarity;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the wardrobe struct-ure shown in FIG. 1; g

FIG. 3 is a sectional elevational Iview taken along the line of and in the direction of the arrows 3-3 of FlG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional, elevational view taken along the line of and looking in the direction of the arrows 4-4 of FIG. l;

FIG. 4A is a fragmentary, side elevational view taken looking in the direction of the arrows 4-A of FIG. 2, showing the connection of a rack to the panel side frames;

,l2h,23 Patented Mar. 24, 1964 FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of wall wardrobe embodying this invention.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged, fragmentary, side elevational View of the top end portion of the wardrobe structure shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary, sectional elevational view taken along the line of and in the direction of the arrows '7 7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of the form of the invention shown in FIGS. 5-7, portions of the cover panel being broken away for the sake of space saving clarity; and

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary, Sectio-nal side elevational view, similar to FIG. 6, of the upper end portion of still another modified orm of this invention.

FIGS. 1-4 showta wall hung wardrobe lili that comprises an arched flexible resilient cover panel 11, that may be a composition board such as Masonite, or Formica, or a laminated wood veneer, or a sheet of flexible plastic, or even some coated paper product such as cardboard or the like. The material should be lsuch that it can be flexed from its normal flat sheet form into the arcuate formation shown in FIG. 2. Furthermore, it should be suiiciently resilient that it will always tend to return 4to its original hat shape and thus it will exert reaction forces F (see FIG. 2.) towards its sides when .it is maintained in lthe larched position shown. Extending lengthwise of each side of the panel 11 is a channel-shaped structural member 12 that is preferably stainless steel or a chrome plated steel, or some other ornamental metal such as an aluminum extrusion. The side edges 14 of the panel 11 (see FlG. 4) are adapted to be inserted through the opening 15 between the -feet 16 of the channel member 12v.

Pfr-lor to insertion of the panel side edges 14 into the channel members 12, the vertically extending stem portions 21 `and 31 of lthe upper and lower racks 2G and 30, respectively, are inserted in the channels 12 as will be hereafter described. Racks 20 and 30 thus serve to horizontally space the channels 12. Rack 20 is a hat and clothes rack and is of substantially rectangular plan configuration as shown by FIG. 2. The rack is formed of spaced bar stock welded or otherwise suitably connected together to provide a bar type rack shelf. In the form shown a horizontally disposed, U-shaped, border bar 22 provides the back side and both ends of the shelf border frame whereas a vertically disposed, U-shaped bar 23 provides the border frame front side and the upstanding front stem portions 2,1 that are mounted in the channel member 12. From FIG. 4A it will be seen that the inner edge of the channels 12 `are notched as at 12a to receive the bend 21a at the base of the `stems 21. The stems 21 are of smaller diameter than the openings 15 between the channel legs 16 so that the stems 21 may be readily inserted within the channels 12 and then bent portions 21a seated in the channel notches 12a.

A plurality of spaced cross bars 24 extend between and interconnect the front and rear border bars Z2, 23. It avill be noted from FIG. 3 that the bight portion 22a of the rear border bar 22 is turned down slightly so that fbar 22a will be in the same horizontal plane as bar 23. This keeps the cross bars Z4, which are mounted on the upper sides of the bight portions of the front border bar 23 and the rear bar '22 in the same horizontal plane.

Depending from the underside of the upper rack 20 is a substantially U-shaped bail 26 that provides a rod-type rack for supporting clothes hangers or the like. The upper ends of the bail legs 27 are suitably connected to the upper rack 20 by welding, snap-on connections, or the like.

The lower rack 30 is substantially identical to the upper rack 20 except for the fact that it omits the hanger bail 26. Rack 30 includes the U-shaped front border Wire .33

E with its upsanding stem ends 31 and the U-shaped side and rear border wire 3?; that has a bent down bight portion 32a. Spaced rods 3d extend between the border wires 32, 33 to provide the shelf supporting surface.

From the foregoing description it is thought to be clear that assembly of this wardrobe from the few component parts is a simple and easy matter that requires no tools or bolt or screw type connecting means. Furthermore, the several components are all commercially available materials and shapes that can be readily obtained at reasonable prices so the wardrobe unit is very attractive from both a service and economic standpoint in addition to having functional aesthetic advantages. To assemble this Wardrobe unit it is merely necessary to arrange the channels l2 at a spacing of the width of the racks Ztl, 36 and to then insert the rack stems 2l, 3l in the channel interior grooves through the openings l5. The racks are positioned lengthwise of the channels l2 so that the bends at the bottom of the stems 2l, El seat in the channel notches lla. This ixedly spaces the racks 20, 30 vertically of the channels 12. Next the dat flexible cover panel 11, which is normally wider than the Width of the racks 2t), 34), is exed to an arcuate form (see FIG. 2) and its side edges 112.1 are then inserted through the openings i5 in the channels 12 (see FIG. 4). The llexed panel 11 will thus lock the rack stems 21, 3l in the channels and at the same time will exert expanding compressive forces F (see FIG. 2) on the channels l2 that will pull the rack stems 2, 31 against the inner sides 12b of the channels I2. It is thought to be obvious that a relatively rigid unitary structure has been formed by the simple art of connecting the spaced racks 26, 3B to the spaced channels 12 and then snapping the flexed panel il into the channels 12 through the channel groove openings l5.

The advantages of this knockdown type of wardrobe construction are thought to be obvious as regards shipping and rearrangement or removal of the wardrobe from place to place.

After assembly of the wardrobe l@ in the manner shown it is an equally simple step to mount the assembled wardrobe unit on a wall or the like. One merely needs to screw, bolt or otherwise fasten the grooved upper and lower mounting bars 29, which are identical, on the supporting wall structure 4t) with a vertical spacing between the bars 29 equal to the vertical spacing of the racks 20, 3i). From FIG. 3 it is clear that the grooves in the top of the mounting bars 29 matingly receive the bight portions ZZfz, 32a of the border bars Z2, 32. Not only do the support bars 29 maintain the wardrobe 10 at the proper vertical location in the wall 40, but the ends of these bars 29 abut the side bars of the racks 2h, 30, as shown at 4l, and prevent any horizontal shift of the wardrobe I on its mountings. Obviously clips, cleats or any other type of rod support could be used in place of the mounting bars 29.

With the form of the invention shown in FIGS. 1-4, as well as the forms to be hereafter described it will be noted that the cover panel substantially conceals the racks and yet provide a substantial amount of storage space that can be readily reached from either end of the unit. Furthermore, this wardrobe, takes the place of an ordinary closet yet does not require any preplanning during construction of the building. It can be mounted on any wall at any location so it permits freedom in choosing and locating of the room interior furnishings and thereafter location ot the Wardrobe unit to best meet the needs and appearance of the room. As the wardrobe unit l0 is wall hung with free passage beneath the unit due to the elimination of all supporting legs or the like, this unit is quite an advantage when cleaning the flooring beneath the unit. Likewise, because of this free through passage behind the cover panel, the wall behind the unit can be easily reached for dusting. cleaning, or the like.

FIGS. 5-8 show a modified form of the invention wherein a rigid wood panel 51 is connected to the upper and lower racks 69 and 76, respectively, by conventional types of bolt and screw connections. This embodiment may be considered a more rigid and more permanent version of this invention although it too is of the knockdown design so that it may be readily mounted on any wall or similar support without regard to any previous planning for the use of such a wardrobe unit. In this form the upper and lower racks 60, 70 are of identical construction so only upper rack 60 will be described in detail.

Rack 6i) comprises a shelf formed from spaced bars 61 connected together at their opposite ends by hollow tubes 62. Telescopically mounted within each end tube 62 is a rod 63. Rods 63 are somewhat shorter than the tubes 62, but they have a threaded bolt shank 64 formed integrally on their rear end so that each of the rod ends 64 can be threadably connected to a countersunk threaded sleeve 65 seated in the mounting bar 66. The front end oi the rod 63 has a threaded bore to receive the screw 67 that connects disc 68 to the rod 63. Disc 68 has screw receiving holes therethrough to receive the screws 69 that connect the discs 68 to the rear face of the cover panel 51. As can be seen from FIG. 8 particularly, the rear ends of tubes 62 are slotted at 71 to provide recesses to receive the mounting bars 66. A set screw 72 can be threaded transversely across the slotted rear ends of tubes 62 to anchor the tubes to the mounting bars 66. In this form of the invention the coat rack rod 74 is a separate element rather than a part of the upper rack. The rack 74 is nothing more than a rod 75 having threaded bores in each end to receive the screws 67 that attaches the mounting discs 68 to the rod 75. Discs 68 have screw receiving holes to seat the screws 69. The screws 69 at the front disc mount the rod 75 on the rear face of panel 51 whereas the screws 69 at the rear disc mount the rod 75 on the wall 4t).

Any type of conventional mounting sleeve 77 can be countersunk in the wall 40 to provide means for connecting the mounting bars 66 to the wall 40. Screws or bolts 78 extend through bores 79 in the mounting bars 66 and seat in the threaded bores of the sleeves 77. Obviously other types of mounting means may be used to connect the mounting bars 66 to the wall 40.

FIG. 9 shows another modied form of this invention wherein the panel unit 51 has countersunk discs 68 connecting the rear face of panel 51 to the forward end of a rod 63. Rod 63' mounts the end tubes 62 of the rack structure 60 described with respect to FIGS. 5-8. The rear end of rod 63 has a threaded bore 81 that receives a threaded stud 82 mounted in a panel column 83. Column 83 may be an integral part of a preassembled panel unit that is generally designated by the reference numeral 84. A washer 85 may be used to give a finished appearance around the opening in the panel 84 that receives the rod 63.

The separate coat hanger rod 86 is of identical construction to the rack supporting bar 63' except for the fact that sleeve 87 is a simple tube that does not carry rack bars. Also the stud 88 can be mounted in the front Wall of column 83 rather than in the rear wall as is the case of the rack mounting.

While only one form of connection is shown for mounting this wall hung wardrobe on a structural panel unit, it is thought that the example given will teach how this wall hung Wardrobe can be mounted on existing wall structural members thereby eliminating the use of the mounting bars 29 or 66.

I claim:

l. An article of furniture adapted to be cantilever supported on a wall or similar structure comprising an arched, flexible, vertically extending cover panel, grooved formations extending lengthwise of a pair of vertically extending opposite side edges of said cover panel, a pair of vertically spaced horizontally extending shelf members projecting from the rear side of said cover panel, said shelf members having front edge portions latchingly seated in the cover panel side edge grooved formations, and means on the rear edge portions of said shelf members for detachable connection to a wall or similar supporting structure, said arched, flexible cover panel exerting expansion forces that latchingly retain the shelf portions in assembled seated engagement with the grooved edge portions of the cover panel.

2. An article of furniture adapted to be cantilever mounted on a wall or similar structure comprising an arched resilient cover panel, a pair of substantially channel-shaped edge members extending lengthwise of and receiving in the interior groove thereof the opposite side edge portions of said arched resilient cover panel, and a pair of vertically spaced, horizontally disposed, shelf members projecting from the rear side of said cover panel having stem portions seated in the edge member interior grooves, said arched cover panel exerting forces on the channel members that retain the panel, channel members and shelf members in assembled positions.

3. An article of furniture adapted to be cantilever mounted on a wall or similar structure comprising an arched resilient cover panel, a pair of substantially channel-shaped edge members extending lengthwise of and receiving in the interior groove thereof the opposite side edge portions of said arched resilient cover panel, and a pair of vertically spaced, horizontally disposed, shelf members projecting from the rear side of said cover panel having stern portions seated in the edge member interior grooves, said arched cover panel exerting forces on the channel members that retain the panel, channel members and shelf members in assembled positions, said channel members having formations thereon that engage portions of said shelf members to prevent relative vertical movement when the several members are assembled together.

4. An article of furniture adapted to be mounted on a wall or similar structure comprising an arched resilient cover panel, a pair of substantially channel-shaped edge members extending lengthwise of and receiving in the interior groove thereof the opposite side edge portions of said arched resilient cover panel, and a pair of vertically spaced, horizontally disposed, shelf members projecting from the rear side of said cover panel having stem portions seated in the edge member interior grooves, said arched cover panel exerting forces on the channel members that retain the panel, channel members and shelf members in assembled position, said shelf members comprising skeleton frames of rod-like stock having portions at the rear sides thereof adapted to be detachably seated in a Wall mounted grooved support.

5. An article of furniture adapted to be mounted on a Wall or similar structure comprising an arched resilient cover panel, a pair of substantially channel-shaped edge members extending lengthwise of and receiving in the interior groove thereof the opposite side edge portions of said arched resilient cover panel, and a pair of vertically spaced, horizontally disposed, shelf members projecting from the rear side of said cover panel having stern portions seated in the edge member interior grooves, said arched cover panel exerting forces on the Channel members that retain the panel, channel members and shelf members in assembled positions, said shelf members comprising skeleton frames of rod-like stock having portions at the rear sides thereof adapted to be detachably seated in a wall mounted grooved support, the upper of said shelf members have a rod portion formed to provide a clothes hanger support.

6. An article of furniture adapted to be mounted on a wall or similar structure comprising an arched resilient cover panel, a pair of substantially channel-shaped edge members extending lengthwise of and receiving in the interior groove thereof the opposite side edge portions of said arched resilient cover panel, and a pair of vertically spaced, horizontally disposed, shelf members projecting from the rear side of said cover panel having stem portions seated in the edge member interior grooves, said arched cover panel exerting forces on the channel members that retain the panel, channel members and shelf members in assembled positions, said shelf members comprising a U-shaped, vertically disposed rod and a U-shaped horizontally disposed rod connected together to provide a shelf border frame with spaced cross bars extending between the bight portions of the two U-shaped rods to provide the shelf supporting surface.

7. An article of furniture adapted to be mounted on a wall or similar structure comprising an arched resilient cover panel, a pair of substantially channel-shaped edge members extending lengthwise of and receiving in the interior groove thereof the opposite side edge portions of said arched resilient cover panel, and a pair of vertically spaced, horizontally disposed, shelf members projecting from the rear side of said cover panel having stem portions seated in the edge member interior grooves, said arched cover panel exerting forces on the channel members that retain the panel, channel members and shelf members in assembled positions, said shelf members comprising a U-shaped, vertically disposed rod and a U- shaped horizontally disposed rod connected together to provide a shelf border frame with spaced cross bars extending between the bight portions of the two U-shaped rods to provide the shelf supporting surface, the legs of the vertically disposed U-shaped frame providing the stern portions that are seatingly mounted in the interior grooves of the channel-shaped edge members.

8. A wardrobe adapted to be cantilever supported on a wall or similar structure comprising a front, vertically extending cover panel, a pair of vertically spaced horizontally extending shelf members projecting from the rear side of said cover panel, said shell members each being formed from sets of spaced interconnected rods having means on the front edge portions detachably connected to the rear side of said cover panel and means on the rear edge portions of said shelf members for detachable connection to a wall mounted supporting structure, and a pair of spaced apart mounting bars having means to detachably receive the connection means on the rear edge portions of the shelf members, said mounting bars having means adapted for connection of said mounting bars to wall or similar vertically extending supporting structure.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 455,725 Redding July 7, 1891 2,510,243 Mohring June 6, 1950 2,546,812 Anderson Mar. 27, 1951 2,944,863 Bertelsen July 12, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 210,993 Great Britain Feb. 14, 1924 801,590 Great Britain Sept. 17, 1958 

1. AN ARTICLE OF FURNITURE ADAPTED TO BE CANTILEVER SUPPORTED ON A WALL OR SIMILAR STRUCTURE COMPRISING AN ARCHED, FLEXIBLE, VERTICALLY EXTENDING COVER PANEL, GROOVED FORMATIONS EXTENDING LENGTHWISE OF A PAIR OF VERTICALLY EXTENDING OPPOSITE SIDE EDGES OF SAID COVER PANEL, A PAIR OF VERTICALLY SPACED HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING SHELF MEMBERS PROJECTING FROM THE REAR SIDE OF SAID COVER PANEL, SAID SHELF MEMBERS HAVING FRONT EDGE PORTIONS LATCHINGLY SEATED IN THE COVER PANEL SIDE EDGE GROOVED FORMATIONS, AND MEANS ON THE REAR PORTIONS OF SAID SHELF MEMBERS FOR DETACHABLE CONNECTION TO A WALL OR SIMILAR SUPPORTING STRUCTURE, SAID ARCHED, FLEXIBLE COVER PANEL EXERTING EXPANSION FORCES THAT LATCHINGLY RETAIN THE SHELF PORTIONS IN ASSEMBLED SEATED ENGAGEMENT WITH THE GROOVED EDGE PORTIONS OF THE COVER PANEL. 